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2012 MBA Fan Noise
- Thread starter JasonR
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The ifixit teardown shows that the new MBAs got the same asymmetrical fan blades that the retina MBP got, so that seems promising. Check out step 12:
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Air-13-Inch-Mid-2012-Teardown/9457/2
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Air-13-Inch-Mid-2012-Teardown/9457/2
Just noticed this as well and came here to find a thread or start one on this topic! 
Very interested as well if anyone who was lucky enough to pick one of these new 2012 airs up if they can do a quick stress test and report on the noise level and heat.
Very interesting as I have a 2011 13" that I love. I do some gaming on it (its fine for what I play) but the noise is abit to loud for my liking and would love for that to be a bit lower.
Very interested as well if anyone who was lucky enough to pick one of these new 2012 airs up if they can do a quick stress test and report on the noise level and heat.
Very interesting as I have a 2011 13" that I love. I do some gaming on it (its fine for what I play) but the noise is abit to loud for my liking and would love for that to be a bit lower.
Fans are inaudible until it passes 3000rpm. After that they ramp up to 6500. CPU gets to 100c before it comes down. Sound isn't that bad. Sounds kind of choppy instead of a hiss if that makes any sense but not annoying. That was ripping a movie in handbrake. Watching 1080p youtube movies for an hour the fan never got past 2300rpm and I never heard a thing. Can't say that for my other airs.
When it gets up to 6500 rpm the noise is still noticeable. Perhaps it's a tad quieter but I don't have the 2011 and 2012 side by side with the same fan speed. I agree that below 3000 or even 4000 it is very quiet (though the 2011 was also quiet at 2000).
My 11" i5 is silent most of the time. You literally cannot hear it. However, I used Hulu yesterday while installing some applications and that got the fan going! It was noisy. I think that is just a fact of life when you try to move air around, though, and it was noticeably quieter than my MBP (not a difficult feat). Overall, I am quite pleased, and I think the computer performs as expected. It gets real hot and noisy when put under stress, because it is a machine, and that is what they do
While I realize 100C is within operating spec, that's still a bit concerning for me. Anyone else seeing these temps?
I forget what I had, but it was toasty! That's the price you pay for the form factor, and I think users watching Hulu, listening to music, etc. are going to have to sweat a little. If it does overheat (has this ever actually happened to anyone on these forums?) it will shut down, and we all know Apple service is spectacular, so any problems will be solved in minutes rather than weeks or months.
If you are really worried about doing heavy processing, go to the quad core on the 15", and enjoy a cooler experience provided by two fans (only 1 on the Air). Or, for power users, there is always the Mac Pro.
I went to the Apple store a few days ago and played with a MBPR and 13" MBA. On both systems I ran Cinebench and other load stuffs multiple times. The MBPR got *much* hotter to the touch. Almost painful. The MBA was much cooler under load, but admittedly I didn't get temps for either, so the CPU could have been hotter, I suppose.
I am surprised to hear that. The 15" seemed to do a lot better when I tried it (a friend's from last year), but I haven't done any serious comparisons. My MBP 13" used to get pretty toasty as well (about the same as the 11"). I bet it has something to do with having only one fan, but I wouldn't be surprised if the smaller cases and dual cores don't play a role.
Anyhow, Apple stuff runs hot, and if that makes you nervous, you may want to look elsewhere
Shame the fan noise is so loud, but I cannot stop laughing at your use of the Emirates jet!
Samurai I watch u all the time on YouTube abou the MacBook air. I want it as my main computer but I don't know if I should get 128gb or 256gb. I'll use iPhoto iTunes iCloud mountain lion, iWork Internet all the time, some photoshop and final cut pro. Not much fcp or ps but some. I'm not worried to get a external hard drive but I rather not. Should I spend the extra 300$? An should I upgrade my ran for 100$?
I've repaired my share of Mac and PC laptops and I'm not sure I'd say running hot is a Mac laptop thing. It's subjective, but most of the Macs I've worked with run pretty cool compared to some PCs under a heavy load, but some of those PC laptops with slightly more spacious interiors and aggressive cooling systems can keep temperatures down quite well. And then of course there's the matter of the processor being used.Anyhow, Apple stuff runs hot, and if that makes you nervous, you may want to look elsewhere
Edit: There have definitely been exceptions. I've owned or worked with some hot Apple laptops, as well as some cool and hot machines from other brands. HP has produced some of the damned hottest laptops I've ever touched when under a heavy load.
I wish I could say. I don't have my 2011 MBA anymore to compare. As for the point above about other computers running hot as well, the difference between the Mac and others is probably the metal casing. I seem to sweat a lot more with Macs. BUT, Mac fans are definitely the quietest.
I haven't met a Mac that has been cool while working on it, but it beats some computers for the way it dissipates heat. I had a Toshiba once that blew heat out through the keyboard. That made my hands uncomfortably hot and sweaty all the time and melted the screen twice. Lines in the shape of the keys on one row developed from the melted plastic of the screen. Whoever thought of that brilliant idea was a really bad engineer.
The good thing about heat with Apple is that you know they have tested it, it won't do anything stupid (like melt your screen), and if you do have a problem, they'll take care of you immediately.
I'm very interested in this as well since I plan on getting a maxed out 11".
Should I go for i5 or i7?
I have a Dell Latitude/i5/Sandy that runs Skype at 55C, whereas my 2010 13 Air runs Skype at 80C. It's a function of case ventilation and fans. I'm surprised Apple never designed the laptops with bottom vents; that would help airflow a lot.
Maybe Apple could look into some kind of micro refrigeration system; coils of liquid nitrogen or something wrapped tightly around the hottest assemblies.. I know it sounds far fetched and kind of way out there, but who knows?
i can't really compare it to a prior air, but i came from a macbook pro and this is much quitter and much cooler. I have the i7 and only have heard the fan once and that was when using hand brake
The Skype client for OSX is horrible. I wouldn't be so quick to pin your heat issue on the cooling.
Bottom vents...? Most useless for a laptop. Side vents, like the new high pixel density MBP make sense.